Stitching my way toward spring

I like to think that my great-grandmother's thimble made her finger as sweaty as it does mine. I like to think about the quilts she and my grandmother made together, and sometimes I sleep beneath them. We were all named Elizabeth... Not long before she died, in 1992 at age 92, my grandmother asked me, "You have Libby's thimble, don't you?"

"Yes," I said, "would you like it back now?"

"No," she said, sitting back in her chair, satisfied. "I just wanted to make sure where it was."

Each stitch is a tiny step closer to clarity, to restoration, to the spring that is inching its way north. Across the city, a friend writes that she's just bought a balloon for a friend in hospital. The morning's snow flurries have given way to bright skies, and the afternoon sun butters the walls of the carpentry school, where students brush off sawdust and look forward to the weekend, a few beers, some music with friends. I'll see an old dear friend tomorrow, and sing a mass by Delibes on Sunday. Another line of stitches, another pocket to hold our warmth next winter. Such inconsistency in these stitches, these steps! I've been doing this my whole life and I'm still a beginner.

Comments

[Hattie]

You are a lucky person to be able to take pleasure in quiet, meditative work.

[Jonathan Hopkinson]

Have you seen Lucy Boston's quilts? She made them as her eyesight was failing after she had finished writing children's books.

[Frances/Materfamilias]

I love this post, Beth. And I'm wondering where my grandmother's thimble is, or my mother's even. And thinking that I should commit to making a quilt before too long. The only kind I've ever made have been what we used to call crazy quilts, the pieces all irregular, each one embroidered 'round all its edges in blanket stitch or feather stitch. . .

[Vivian]

Correction, Jonathan...Lucy Boston did not consider her books to be juveniles. However she did insist on including her son's illustrations and Faber would not accept to publish illustrated fiction for adults. (Beth I have the books ).

[Marly Youmans]

Did I ever show you Michael's quilts? He's a hand-stitcher as well.

[Rabbi Rachel Barenblat]

Beautiful.